From the people who brought to NYC the wildly popular Sugarfish, comes KazuNori. It's their all hand-roll sushi place and has been getting the same amount of crazy buzz as Sugarfish. In a similar vein, I had heard the wait times could be long and painful, but since I was in the neighborhood on a random Thursday night around 6:30, I thought I would take my chances going solo.
I would HIGHLY recommend going solo if you can. The seating set-up is such that it's really a pain if you're a big party. It's a self-serve/honor system - there is no host to seat you. The restaurant is just one big communal sushi counter, so there are no tables to speak of. You basically have to wait until someone of your party size to leave if you want to sit together. Luckily there were enough odd number people sitting at the bar that there was one open seat all the way at the end of the bar. One of the benefits of eating solo!
The menu set-up is similar to Sugarfish in that they really steer you towards a box combination but you can also order a la carte if you want. They have a 3,4,5, or 6 piece hand roll set and then 1 sashimi appetizer. I settled on the 5 piece combo ($23) and the sashimi appetizer ($9.25). The 5 piece combo comes with toro, yellowtail, bay scallop, crab and lobster rolls - the only one missing from the 6 piece set was the salmon but since I was getting the sashimi, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.
The food comes out fast and furious but also one at a time. They recommend that you eat the hand rolls right away to take in the crispness of the seaweed wrapper. They were all fantastic - warm, crunchy and with the right amount of rice to fish ratio. That's usually my beef with hand rolls, they are usually too rice focused and it can be super filling for all the wrong reasons. But it worked well here. My favorite by far was the bay scallop but they were honestly all very satisfying. Despite that, it can get a bit boring to just eat one hand roll after another. Apparently if you order take out, you can get them cut up into regular rolls (probably since it's hard to eat fresh hand rolls as taking out). The salmon sashimi was also fresh and served with a touch of ponzu and sesame seeds. While it was tasty, I wasn't really wow'd by it. But it was a good way to break up the monotony of just eating one hand roll after another (not that there is anything really wrong with that).
As I said, they serve the food quickly and with the limited menu, it's hard to imagine spending more than an hour here. But by the time I left, the line was out the door - there were several large groups waiting for tables and I can see the seating situation getting a bit unwieldy without someone manning the line. Despite all the sushi places in NYC, you don't really see a place full dedicated to hand rolls, so if you're really into them, this is your place for sure. But if you like a bit of variety, you might be a bit bored but it's still worth a try. Total bill: $35 with tax (tip is included in all prices)
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment